Who knows where to place this topic? But since this is a renegade of sorts web site, I place it...HERE!

Nothing to do with Bradbury, actually, other than it's about 'writing' ... in a biblical message by one of the premier expositors in the Protestant field today... Charles Swindoll...from his daily radio program. The following link should go right to the message...

NOTE: Since a new message is added each day...
... go to the 'ARCHIVE' on the right hand side of the page, and the message on 'writing' will be listed there as:

Thursday, July 7th, 2005 message:
"Wrapping Up a Ragged-Edge Journey"

The Link: http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/insight_for_living/



[This message has been edited by Nard Kordell (edited 07-08-2005).]

To clarify, it's the "Broadcast Archives", not the "Article Archives". Nice expostulation on chosing the right words, based on Ecclesiastes 12:8-14.

I can hardly believe that this website is still operating! This is nice. Had it listed in 'favorites'.

Has the old website gotten too complicated? A little bit of this one, and a little bit of the new one, should they be welded together, may make one truly great website.

HAPPY 36th ANNIVERSARY
FOR
USA MOON LANDING

���Topic Heading �

"Maybe This Website is Really Just
an Island Getaway."


You take out the beach umbrella, a glass of refreshment with it's own little umbrella, some sunglasses, a silly hat, flip flops, and head towards a nice quiet place on the beach. You know if THIS place is a beach...it's pretty darn quiet.

And while sitting on the beach, I look far out into the horizon, where I begin to think about things...

...like my love affair with Bradbury and his writings, about the man himself...this love affair of the heart and emotions that has now turned into some sort of dibilitating wave or strange undertow affecting my whole being. I'm not exactly paralyzed. But I'm neither that mobile.

Ever want to drive a car so badly...that you sit in the seat and you may even start up the engine...but you realize you're encased in a showroom with four steel walls? How did those steel walls get there? And you think... they were put there for your own protection. Maybe you're not old enough to drive. Or maybe, if you did drive outside, it's a rough neighborhood and you'd get car-jacked.

Or maybe, you don't really have to drive out there. (Ah... tell me more, I say to myself.)

Well, you see, I've been getting myself ill because I've been trying to drive a vehicle somewhere when I have absolutely NOT the power nor energy to bash thru steel walls. Neither the car or myself. And if I try, you just wind up with swollen lips and cuts on the forehead, and maybe a broken rib or two. And the car a total wreck!

The cosmic principle of God moving his hand on behalf of someone is not done by MY exertion and all the muscle power I can muster, to push (or pull) God's hand in the direction I want it to go. In other words, I can't drive thru steel.

A few verses in scripture talk about why God will eventually slap the proud down from their make believe perch. So they cannot boast in heaven that by their own efforts they made it up to the city where streets are paved with transparent gold. And since we are 'created'...the creator with all the freewill he has dished out, finds us climbing higher still by efforts we thought from ourselves. Until we realize those efforts and strengths are a 'given' ...and can be taken away from those who think their effort as their own doing. Taken away by God.

(Oh, this is getting personal.)

How far do we reach into the mind of Bradbury and make it our own, only to find that turning this great ship on a course that understands that man's immortality lies NOT in the vast arms of stars, but in the vast arms of God...is IMPOSSIBLE in terms of human strength.

I get out of that car surrounded by four walls of steel, and thru a small doorway off to the side, nearly hidden, walk outside. Oh, simple brain, simple mind, simple man, how I dare to think I can conquer all that lies above in the vast depths of stars and universes bewildering to the eye, the brain, the soul, the heart!!

It's not man to save God on his journeys forth, as written often by Bradbury. If so, how so? It's God that made it all, and is in all. He waits not for man.

Has it been forogtten that Man is uninterested?
So God came to meet man instead. No one asked God not for this visit. It wasn't in me. It wasn't in you. That is, unless God puts it into one's heart to seek Him, no one will.

God loves whom he loves, and in this part of his creation, he set his love on stupid creatures like ourselves who are more fond with the idea of immortality under man's rules and design.

So where is to be found Bradbury's immortal man?
Found far out, generations later, placing footprints on heaven's ceiling?
NOT SO!

Everything will, scripture writes... 'someday' be rolled up like a scroll, with a sound of vast, beyond-able-to-number angels ushering all that takes place...

How simple Bradbury's short story 'The Man!'
How profound!
In the quiet words Ray penned years ago, he expressed a lot of truth. That mad spaceman who was bent on transversing the universe in search of "God"...could never find God!

And so, plainly, you give it all up to God...and ask that God, the Father of Jesus Christ, who one day will restore all things back to the character that is found in his Son...and thus restart the whole universe again from its original purpose...give ol' Mr. Ray Bradbury an experience of the Holy Spirit, exceeding and great. It says...God gives with a power that surpasses 'knowledge'.

Ray, turning 85 on August 22, 2005...needs a gift from heaven, from 'God's' own hands.

Otherwise, it's far, far far beyond me, or any of us...!!



[This message has been edited by Nard Kordell (edited 08-12-2005).]

Wow, Nard, pretty deep musings there.
Did you post this at 2 in the morning West Coast time?
I discern from many of your posts your concern for Mr. Bradbury's immortal soul. Keep praying. I know many monks and nuns who spend most of their lives in prayer, and that for folks whose names none of us know. I've often thought that famous people have the advantage of prayers being offered for them by people whom they'll never meet this side of the veil, but that they may also share some responsibility for the spiritual state of those whom they've affected by their art.
God loves us more than we can ever love ourselves and hears our feeble pleas...

Hey Braling II

I really appreciate your reply. Thanks!

Actually it was after midnight in Chicago when I wrote that. Was up because my wife has been up with a powerful toothache. It was off to the dentist this morning...

__

Nard, profound thoughts and writing. Comforting, actually, since a couple of my closest friends have passed away in the last 3 weeks.

Bought a birthday card for Ray yesterday. Time to start a "Happy 85" thread on the new site?

ravenswake: Good idea. On the NEW site!!

Should a bunch of us should start a new screen name, made up of letters of each of our names...and post amazing things after collaborating amongst ourselves? At least that'd be different!



[This message has been edited by Nard Kordell (edited 08-13-2005).]